Scientific name: Platanthera bifolia (L.) Rich.
Common name: Lesser Butterfly-orchid
Description
Habit: Similar to P. chlorantha but often smaller and more spindly; 15-30cm high.
Leaves: Stem bearing, near the base, a single pair of almost opposite large, oval leaves, and a few much smaller ones higher-up.
Flowers: Flowers white and cream, only faintly tinged with green, 12-17mm across; in a rather lax spike; lateral sepals spreading; upper one erect, forming a hood with the petals; labellum linear-oblong, entire, longer than the sepals; spur arched, neither flattened nor broadening at tip; ovary curved and twisted, stalkless.
Habitat: Pastures and meadows, acid heaths, bogs and marshes, fens and lakeshores.
Distribution: Frequent in the West, Centre and North; rarer in the East and South.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No